Champagne's Subregions
7/17/15 -
("Language is like a bridge and over this bridge of language you walk in security, but beyond that lies another world . . ." -Robert Musil)
Every wine grower works within the potentialities afforded them by nature, but each grower also has a series of choices that will yield a particular vinous reality from among those possible outcomes. The grape bud is a prime example, because within each bud are found the eventual beginnings of not one, but two future seasons of grapes, the N+2 (N being the genetic material for the current year). Thus, the viticultural decisions that follow the previous year’s harvest, along with the weather patterns from the end of that harvest through spring's bud break, will affect the growth trajectory of two future seasons of grapes.
In Champagne, many of these decisions are highly regulated, but there remains a healthy margin within which each grower can influence the pH, amount of organic material, conductivity, aeration, and biosphere of their soils. If soil type and naturally occurring soil composition (among other factors) are starting points then these vineyard decisions (and eventually cellar decisions) are the bridges that can lead to various and distinctive sparkling worlds.
We’ve assembled Champagne 3-Packs from each of the following 5 Champagne subregions shown below (Petite Montagne, Grande Montagne, Vallée de la Marne, Côte des Blancs, and Côte des Bar), in part to show the geographic expansiveness of Champagne, in part to show the stylistic range that is possible even within the each subregion, from village to village, from grower to grower.
As much expressions of each grower’s practices, as of each subregion, these specially priced 3-Packs have been selected to showcase the diversity, the nuances, and the value of the Champenois terroir.
- David Salinas